Flavours of Punjab - FOOD TRAILS

Journeys fusing our love for road trips and food continue as the Food Trails series takes Dhruv Saxena to Amritsar with the Hyundai Creta for lip-smacking Punjabi cuisine and more

- Dhruv Saxena

The idea behind the Food Trails series is quite simple – combine the love for food and road trips into enriching journeys that showcase the depth of India’s culinary diversity. While the first part saw us head east from our base in Noida to Lucknow for Awadhi cuisine, we travelled west for the second part for the best Rajasthan has to offer. For the third part, we journey up north to the holy city of Amritsar in Punjab with the Hyundai Creta to sample some of the state’s most popular dishes that have become synonymous with north Indian food.

But first, we had an eight-hour journey from Noida to Amritsar ahead of us. An early morning start and the 120kmph speed limit on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway made for a quick start to our journey before the busy highways of Haryana and Punjab with lower speed limits slowed us down to under the triple-digit mark for the remainder of the journey. These highways are in good shape for the most part save for a few under-construction patches and toll plazas, crossing which still is time-consuming despite the FASTag mandate courtesy of slow readers or users with insufficient balance holding up traffic. The Hyundai Creta diesel AT, our companion for this trip, proved to be fast, efficient and comfortable; qualities that go a long way in making road trips that much more enriching.

"WE JOURNEYED UP NORTH TO THE HOLY CITY OF AMRITSAR IN PUNJAB WITH THE HYUNDAI CRETA TO SAMPLE SOME OF THE STATE'S MOST POPULAR DISHES THAT HAVE BECOME SYNONYMOUS WITH NORTH INDIAN FOOD"